What do you do if you find a discrepancy between your final paystub and W-2? Do you contact the old employer or the IRS?

You should first contact the employer's payroll department to point out the discrepancy and request a corrected W-2 (called a W-2c). Most errors are honest mistakes they'll fix once you show them the proof from your paystub. If they refuse or don't respond after a couple of attempts, then you should contact the IRS. You'll file Form 4852 (Substitute for W-2) with your tax return, using your paystub information as verification. Keep copies of all your communication with the employer showing you tried to resolve it first. The IRS may contact your employer about the discrepancy.

But isn't it actually good to have too much withheld? I always try to get a big refund so I don't owe anything at tax time.

Thanks for the tip about making copies! Do you know if there's any specific form I need to track the carryforward amounts if I can't use the full credit in the amended return year?

There's no specific IRS form for tracking the carryforward amounts, but you absolutely need to keep careful records yourself. I created a simple spreadsheet showing the total credit amount, how much I used each year, and how much was carrying forward. When you file the next year's taxes, you'll need to enter the carryforward amount from the previous year on Form 8839. The tax software should prompt you for this, but many people miss it if they switch tax preparers or software between years. This is why your own tracking is crucial. Also keep all your amended return paperwork together with your adoption documents for at least 7 years in case of an audit.

I used TurboTax to amend my 2020 return for adoption credits and it worked fine. Just make sure you have Form 8839 filled out correctly with the adoption info. The wizard will ask about qualified adoption expenses - if your child is "special needs" for tax purposes, you enter $0 for expenses but still claim the full credit amount.

I tried doing it myself with TurboTax and it was a disaster. Ended up hiring a CPA midway through. The software doesn't really guide you through the election process properly, and there are a ton of forms and schedules involved.

I actually did it successfully with H&R Block's premium online version. It was tricky, but they have a section specifically for business income that worked for reporting trader status. You need to file Schedule C for your trading business expenses and then make the Section 475(f) election with a separate written statement. The key is reporting it as a business, not just investment income.

This is super important! I trade both SPX options and individual stock options, and the tax difference is huge. My SPX gains automatically get preferential tax treatment. Saved me about $11,000 last year by shifting more of my trading to index options.

Does this actually work for electronic payments too? I always pay exact amounts when I do direct debit through tax software.

How long did it take you to actually get your AMT credit back? I paid a huge AMT bill in 2020 and I'm wondering if I'll ever see that money again.

It took me about three years to get most of it back. The first year after paying AMT, my regular tax wasn't high enough to use the full credit. The second year I got about 40% of it back, and the third year I was able to use the remaining credit. How quickly you recover the AMT depends entirely on your regular tax liability in future years. If you have high regular tax, you can potentially use the full credit in one year. Many people take several years to fully recover their AMT payments.

I've used TurboTax for this situation and it works fine if you use the same software each year. It carries forward your AMT info automatically. But if you switch between tax software or preparers, that's where things get messy because you need to manually enter previous year information.